“The rise of the illiberal international is only just beginning. So is the long and arduous fight against it.” http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/the_good_fight/2017/10/andrej_babis_the_czech_republic_has_a_trump_of_its_own.html

I don’t follow football or other sports, but this is a really fine essay. It’s even numerate and full of sound statistical inferences. http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2014/10/what-liberals-get-wrong-about-football.html

When you discover there is no Santa Clause. (It turns out that Mom and Dad worked hard to earn money for presents…and food and a home and everything else.) https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/i-used-to-think-gun-control-was-the-answer-my-research-told-me-otherwise/2017/10/03/d33edca6-a851-11e7-92d1-58c702d2d975_story.html